Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Author: John McCutchan (page 1 of 2)

I took this photo at one of my places in Britain: Tintern Abbey. This majority of this abbey, destroyed by Henry VIII, still stands today.

The Cambridge Experience

May 17, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Growing up one constantly sees and hears about London, Paris, Italy, and all of the other dream European destinations.  But, (at least for me) thinking about my chances to actually go and live at one of these locations for a period of several months always made them seem a million miles away.  Thankfully, I’ve had the surreal experience of not only visiting many of these locations, but also of living in Cambridge, England for the past semester.  Over the course of my previous blogs I’ve written a lot about what I’ve seen and done, but little about the actual experience.

I've decided to adorn this blog with a few eclectic personal favorite photographs. This is an iconic Cambridge photo taken from the back of Kings College.

From the beginning the feeling has been an odd one.  The entire semester has felt like one incredibly long vacation.  After flying over in early January, it was as if Christmas Break forgot to end and continued for several months.  Then, by the time the Christmas Break feeling had gone we were packing for Spring Break.  Before we’d barely finished unpacking from Spring Break it was the eve of Easter Break.  And from the last Thursday of Easter Break it would only be four short weeks before we would be boarding a plane destined for the US.  If fact, it would be fair to say it “hit me” that I was going home in less than a month before I fully realized that I had even arrived in Europe.

I took this photo at one of my favorite locations in Britain: Tintern Abbey. This majority of this abbey, destroyed by Henry VIII, still stands today.

Although I describe the semester as a “vacation,” perhaps this isn’t the best term.  The word makes me think of time spent without a place to call home.  However, only weeks into the semester Cambridge felt very much like home – the familiar (and, in a pleasant way, somewhat boring) pathway from the railway station to the Student Centre was a welcoming sight following a weekend of travel.

Instead of “vacation” maybe a better word is “break.”  The semester provided the opportunity to get away from normal difficulties and in stepping back view them from a rather detached perspective.  In fact, you might even say living in Cambridge was almost like living a separate life.  The very ritualized schedules of college were replaced by an expectation to have a good time and allow yourself to learn through the adventures your curiosity brought you to.  In England some problems seemed much further away (you don’t have to stay in shape for sports), while others felt far more pressing (like the difficulties of signing leases and registering for classes from overseas).  Yet “break” really isn’t the right word either.  The courseload was relatively light compared to my previous semesters.  Yet, after factoring in 2-3 credits worth of time planning upcoming trips and another 2-3 for experiencing the city of Cambridge itself the total amount of hours required to take full advantage of my time overseas came up to about 20 credits’ worth.  Not what I’d describe as a light semester.

During my travels around Europe my favorite city was Paris. This photo is of one of the lock bridges, Pont de l'Archevêché.

Another fitting word might be “change.”  As opposed to the monotonously ritualized pattern of usual schoolwork, learning through experience and immersion into another culture was a refreshingly different challenge.  The entire nature of the task changes.  Can I navigate public transportation to get where I need to go?  Can I plan this trip successfully?  Is it even possible for me to communicate with others, or do they speak as little English as I do of their language?  Other challenges are less precise.  Learning how members of a different society think (especially in regards to Americans) and how they interact is a type of education with absolutely no equivalent in the States.  Even more than this our challenge was to not only learn this information, but to know it well enough to (on occasion) integrate into this culture and hopefully view the rest of the world from within it.

One of the highlights of the semester was visiting relatives that live in Wales. This is my nephew and I walking along the road by my aunt and uncle's house.

Although I’ve been to some of the most amazing places in the entire world, I think some of the smallest and most “normal” things have actually been some of the highlights of the semester.  For example, I absolutely loved cooking not only for myself, but also for other members of my dinner group.  I loved watching the rain fall as I sat in the 3rd floor window holding a guitar and a glass of wine.  Using the “break” aspect of the semester as a chance to take a pause from life and simply think and reflect was fantastic.  Also, as you may have noticed, I have often used plural pronouns in describing the semester.  Rather than attributing this to my careless writing I think this is evidence that the 17 of us from Valpo could not have gotten luckier in our selection of housemates to share the semester with.

And now, as I’m packing to return to America, this is also the end of my blog.  I hope you’ve enjoyed following me as I’ve experienced living in Cambridge, England and traveled around Europe.  If you’ve missed any of my trips or want to know what else happened in Cambridge please feel free to check out my past blogs or my roommate’s blogs.  Also, don’t forget to take a look at the pictures I’ve posted from the semester.  Goodbye, and thank you for reading!

Cheers!

River Cam

Misc. England

May 9, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Church of St. Andrew & St. Mary

As my time abroad is quickly drawing to a close, I’ve taken several shorter trips around England that have only taken at most a day.  I chose one of the few sunny days in April to walk from Cambridge to Grantchester.  The walk follows the River Cam as it lazily twists around the Grantchester Meadows.  One of Grantchester’s main attractions is that the famous poet Rupert Brooke spent much of his time in the area.  I timed my trip perfectly so the clock on the old church tower was right at ten to three when I arrived, as in Brooke’s poem The Old Vicarage, Grantchester:

Deep meadows yet, for to forget
The lies, and truths, and pain? . . . oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?

Grantchester has an interesting array of old buildings.  There are several very old pubs, thatched houses, an old watermill, The Vicarage, tea gardens, and a pool along the river that Brooke was rumored to have frequented during his time in the area.  Although I enjoyed visiting the village, the real pleasure is in the walk there and back.  If you go through at the right time you might have to stray off the path in order to avoid the herds of cows pastured along the walkway.

River Cam

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few of my others trips were to places concerning WWII, especially the Battle of Britain.  Because the land in East Anglia is so flat, it was ideal for air bases during the Great War.  For a while a new airbase was being constructed every three days.  Today, the airbase of Duxford is home to not only the British Imperial War Museum, but it also has a hangar for civilian planes and the American Air Museum.  Many world-famous planes are housed here, including Concorde, Blackbird, and several planes from the Battle of Britain such as Spitfires and Hurricanes.

British Searchlight and Anti-Aircraft Gun

The Cathedral of the Forest

One of my favorite parts of England is the Royal Forest of Dean.  The road to the forest is surrounded by fields of bright yellow flowers grown to make oil.  Although, the area isn’t quite as quaint as other locations in England (like the Cotswolds) because the buildings aren’t uniform.  The little forest villages have a large mix of old and new houses.  Even though the forest doesn’t have quite the soaring otherworldliness of some National Parks like Yellowstone, the tangle of trees, moss, and the River Wye create an enchanting corner of England.  I was a little late for some of the spring flowers, but there are still areas of the forest where you can stand and see nothing but a sea of bluebells surrounding you.  At this time of year bird watching is a major attraction in the forest because endangered birds like the Peregrin falcon are currently laying eggs.  The Forest of Dean is far enough off the beaten path that many of the centuries-old churches, including the Cathedral of the Forest in Newland, are left unlocked for the public to come in and admire the ancient memorials and artifacts.  This gives you the feeling that instead of experiencing a carefully planned tourist experience you are exploring someone else’s world.

 

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Tübingen

Germany Excursion

May 7, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Munich

Within minutes of arriving in Germany it is incredibly easy to tell that the German people are remarkably efficient and self-sufficient.  Although many Germans do speak English, they have little need of doing so.  Even waiters in popular restaurants don’t willingly speak much English.  The language barrier in Germany was the most pronounced of any country I’ve been to.  While one can certainly get housing, food, and transportation, there is an entirely different sense of interaction between those who speak German and those who don’t.  Lucky, most of my time was spent with other students from Valparaiso University who are studying abroad in Germany and can speak the language fluently.

The next thing worth noting is the food.  It seems an average lunch consists of a sausage (normally with mustard), some sort of roll or pretzel, and a drink.  The majority of main meal courses are similar.  Meat with some sort of flavoring like gravy or horseradish and a vegetable (often sauerkraut or potato) go with bread to create a hearty meal.  Also, beer is so important it is almost considered food.  In Germany I was introduced to many drinks I hadn’t had before.  Beer is relatively often mixed with cola or lemonade.  A popular drink is bubble tea, which is iced tea with tapioca.  Nearly everything in Germany is carbonated, including juice and water.  While I didn’t like the water, carbonated apple juice was surprisingly good.

During the day in Munich I took a train to the village of Dachau – the name of the village being synonymous with the concentration camp I then visited on the city’s edge.  It is difficult to describe, but something about the place actually feels different. This sixth sense is rather difficult to explain, but if you’ve ever been there perhaps you know what I mean. And if you haven’t been, you should try to go at some point.

Dachau Concentration Camp

After a train ride south through the iconic German countryside of towns hidden among thickly forested valleys we arrived in Tübingen.  While much of our time here was spent catching up with friends from Valpo, we still did several of the touristy things the area has to offer.  We climbed up to the city’s castle, visited the nearby city of Reutlingen, visited a monastery/king’s hunting lodge, and took the iconic Tübingen photo from the bridge across the Neckar River.  Then, all too soon our Easter Break was over and it was time to fly back to London.

There are a few observations worth noting from my travels (and remember these are generalizations).  Europeans (especially the British) love their dogs.  It is fine to make a joke about someone’s children behaving badly, but don’t dare critique their dog.  And not small dogs either – I’ve seen more huskies and german shepherds here than in America.  Smoking is far more common in Europe.  Several places have relatively strict anti-smoking laws, but many other European countries are far more lax.  On Italian trains it seems half the railcar piles out at every stop for a cigarette.  Last, Europe is far less restricted than the US (perhaps due to a lack of lawsuits at every turn).  For example, I visited the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.  Eventually the guardrails stopped and there were signs warning visitors against continuing.  In America, if you did walk through the crack in the fence you’d almost be considered suicidal.  Not to mention that a group of park rangers would immediately attempt to get you back behind the railing.  Here, absolutely everyone continued – and walked right along the sheer drop into the Atlantic.  All the sign meant was that beyond that point the park was no longer responsible for your actions.  This was an expected part of the experience, if you stayed behind the wall your trip would have been far less memorable because the railings only enclose a very small section of the cliffs.

Tübingen

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Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

Italy Round 2: Florence

April 24, 2012 / / 0 Comments

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Before setting out for Easter Break, it appeared that our luck in having a remarkably rainless semester was about to catch up to us: every single day’s forecast predicted rain. During the Italian segment of our journey we had had a light shower in Milan, but by the time we had arrived in Florence the weather was back to mostly dry and sunny.

 

The first day in Florence actually wasn’t spent in the city of Florence, but consisted of a tour of the surrounding Tuscan countryside. The first stop was Siena, the rival citystate of Florence. The stop included the city’s famous striped cathedral, one of the world’s first (and still functioning) banks, and the famous Piazza del Campo (home of the Palio horse race).  After stopping at a farm and winery for lunch (which including sampling two wines unique to Tuscany) the tour took us through the scenic countryside and included a break at the small town of San Gimignano.  Our last stop was Pisa; where we saw one of the wonders of the world. It was here that we experienced the only true rain of the journey (and first European thunderstorm). However, I had no difficulty sitting in a cafe with a cappuccino and admiring the leaning tower of Pisa.

 

Cathedral of Siena Library

The day actually spent in Florence started off with a visit to the Accademia Gallery. We were originally worried about waiting for hours in line, but found out that with a phone call it is relatively simple to reserve tickets and walk right in (it helps if you know someone that speaks Italian, like the friendly owner of our hostel). It does cost about €4 to reserve a ticket, but you will undoubtably spend more than €4 of time waiting in line.  The museum’s centerpiece is undoubtedly Michelangelo’s David, so after viewing that and an exhibit on ancient musical instruments it was on to the next stop.

 

The first thing one notices about Florence is how exquisite all of the cathedrals are. This originates from the fact that Florence was originally a community of bankers (the Florin gold coin comes from Florence). But the bankers wanted more money and began charging exorbitant interest rates. The Church didn’t take kindly to this, and told the bankers they would assuredly be going to hell.  Therefore, in order to buy their way to heaven the bankers poured their money into building the most striking cathedrals possible (and adorning the front with their names so everyone would know who was responsible for the structures).

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

The Basilica de Santa Croce is a moderate walk away from the main cathedral, but is was not very crowded. As with many European cathedrals, it is now more of a museum for tourists than a church. Also, for some reason nearly every famous building over the course of my trip has seemed to have scaffolding on some part of it.  From tiny watchtowers on the west coast of Ireland to the grandiose Italian cathedrals, all have some scaffolding covering various amounts of the building.  However, most places have turned this into a profit by charging an €5 for entrance to see what is behind the scaffolding.  It sort of reminds me of the unfinished Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota – it is probably more profitable to never finish.  Although in Santa Croce I didn’t pay the extra fee to look at the renovation-in-progress altar, the Byzantine art and other devotional pieces in the Museo dell’Opera still made cathedral a good stopping point.

 

View from Piazza Michelangelo

The last stop was across the river to Piazza Michelangelo, where an old wall on top of a hill provides what are unequivocally the best views of Florence. After stopping to watch a few street performers, the trip back to our hostel was one of the best parts of Florence. The way back passed several koi ponds, journeyed through the old city gate, and over the Ponte Vecchio.  Most exciting: we found the best gelateria in the world on the way back!  If you’re ever traveling through the Piazza della Signoria, make sure to stop by Caffe Mokarico Gelateria!

 

 

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Sacré Coeur

Weekend in Paris

April 23, 2012 / / 0 Comments

From the top of the Eiffel Tower

As with most major European cities, the airport serving Paris, France is located far outside the city.  So, the first adventure in really any city is navigating the public transportation system in what is hopefully a timely and cheap manner (a single taxi ride from airport to hostel often costs at least €50 and can run upwards of €100).  In Paris the metro system is the best option.  For about €20 a three-day pass will let you ride the metro to anywhere within the city 24 hours a day.  By the end of the weekend I had been on the metro easily 15-20 times.  Buying the pass was well worth the time I would have spent walking around the city.

Eiffel Tower

It is possible to spend hours in every site in Paris.  Therefore, there are some sites that you have to merely stop outside of for pictures.  For example, this is what I did at the Arc de Triomphe,  Invalides, Moulin Rouge, and the Pantheon.  Other sites are almost mandatory for tourists, such as the Eiffel Tower, which I went to nearly every day.  I took the trip to the top the first morning of the weekend.  By climbing the steps to the first level I was able to avoid waiting several hours in line for the elevator.  As you continue to climb, the views become more and more spectacular until at the highest level you can look over all of Paris and see the Seine stretch for miles before it disappears into the horizon.  Looking at it from the ground the Eiffel Tower is more impressive after dark.  The light show on the half hour and the rotating search lights from the top draw a crowd every night.

Notre Dame

The only other site I visited more than once was Notre Dame.  On the way to the Latin Quarter for dinner the first night I walked by the front of it.  The next day I came back and went inside.  Similar to many other major European cathedrals, the inside was really best described as a tourist carnival.  The sides of the church are a sea of tourists attempting to take pictures of all the altars and works of art housed by the cathedral.  In the main part of the church, hundreds of Catholic believers are lined up to kiss whichever relic is on display that day.  Even from the short glimpse I got of Notre Dame I could tell that it is rightfully one of the most well known churches in the world.

Mona Lisa

Although I only spent a few hours in the Louvre, it would easily be possible to spend days and days there without seeing everything.  After a relatively short wait to get in (with free entry because I’m a student in the EU) I headed towards the Mona Lisa.  Along the main hall there is large room to the right.  I had heard that I would be under-impressed by the size of the painting, but I didn’t really think it was that small.  And the crowd’s interest didn’t imply anyone else was unimpressed either.  Every individual in the enormous group swarming in front of the painting was attempting to jostle past the others and take a picture.  Eventually, I was successful too.  Then, on the way out of the museum I walked past halls of ancient Greek sculptures and paintings as big as the wall.

While there were many aspects of Paris I liked (the crepes are fantastic), two of my favorite things were Sacré Couer and the numerous bridges spanning the Seine.  Several of the bridges are works of art in themselves and are heavily adorned with carvings.  Several others are lock bridges, which I spent a long time taking pictures of.  Sacré Couer is rather far out of the city centre but is well worth the trip.  It is on a hill, so the steps leading up to the basilica have a great view of the city.  Also, several really good street performers can be found here, so many people sit on the side of the hill with friends to relax and enjoy the atmosphere.  Crowing the hill is the magnificent cathedral with one of the most beautiful interiors in Europe.  Pleasantly, there were less tourists than I expected inside.  The acoustics are amazing too.  The music from the nuns’ service could be heard perfectly in all corners of the chapel.

Lock Bridge

 

Unfortunately, I only had one weekend to spend in Paris.  But in the space of one weekend it became one of my favorite European cities and one that I will definitely try to return to in the future!

Sacré Coeur

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Returning to the Cars

Spring Break Part IV: Crete

April 3, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Rethymo

Our ferry from Athens docked in Heraklion, Crete at 6:00, making it our second early morning in a row.  The weather matched our feelings; rain and a hostilely cold wind greeted us as we trudged from the shipyard to the bus station.  After an hour and a half’s ride to Rethymno, the city that would be our home for the next few days, nearly the entire group elected to take a long nap.  When we awoke several hours later, we found that we had slept through the inclement weather and awoke to the sun just coming out from behind the clouds.  In the increasingly warm temperatures we explored the city, adjoining beach, and made plans for the next two days with our extremely helpful hostel owner, Ivan.

Walk to Balos Beach

 

We were advised to rent cars because doing so would be cheaper than taking buses and would give us far greater mobility (you only have to be 18 and have a US drivers license to rent in Crete).  We got off to a bit of a late start the first morning, so instead of following our original plan and driving all the way to the opposite coast we decided to attempt to find Balos Beach at the northwestern tip of the island.  However, as we drove closer the condition of the road grew increasingly worse (maybe the road costs too much to maintain during the offseason?).  We ended up parking our cars along the side of the road and walked 5 kilometers to the beach.  At the beach we found our compensation for coming weeks earlier than other tourists:  we were the only ones on the beach!  The beautiful turquoise water (warm enough to swim in) was framed by sand and enclosed by the surrounding foothills.  But seeing as how we still had a long walk back to our cars, as soon as the sun began to set into the Mediterranean horizon we started retracing our steps towards our vehicles.  This time, instead of the view looking out to the sea, the walk back was towards a small coastal village nestled below the snowcapped mountains.

Returning to the Cars

During the second day in Crete we had intentions of visiting a pair of caves, but once again we ran into the problem of traveling during the offseason.  Both were closed.  However, our switchback route among the mountains left us within a relatively short drive of Preveli Beach.  Although the day was a little cold for swimming, Preveli Beach is adjacent to a palm forest.  After spending an hour or two alongside of the river running through this forest, we returned home at a slower rate to admire the view from the tops of gorges in the mountains.

Returning from Preveli Beach

The last day of our spring break was perfect.  Instead of stretching out the vacation by trying to do too much, we essentially took the day off.  After sleeping in, we stopped at a crepe stand (we had gotten to know the employees rather well by our third day) and for ice cream.  After this brunch, we visited the Fortezza in Rethymno for an hour or so and spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and enjoying the sun – forming the perfect ending to Spring Break!

Walk to Preveli Beach

 

 

 

 

Missed an earlier destination?  Take a look at my visits to Venice, Rome, and Athens!

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Spring Break Part III: Traveling through Athens

March 26, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Our travel plans for the day consisted of taking a train from Rome to the airport, catching a flight to Athens, a nine hour layover (during which we would explore the city for a few hours), and then ferrying overnight to Crete.  For me, the most noticeable transition between Italy and Greece was the language difference.  I’m not at all fluent in Italian, but Italian being one of the Romance languages I was surprised how easy it was to pick up the general idea of what someone was saying, even if I couldn’t understand word for word.  Similarly, I could read enough Italian to get where I wanted to go and pronounce enough to say “thank you” and order food without much difficulty.

In Greece, it was the complete opposite.  Without obvious social cues it was almost impossible to understand speech.  As for reading, there are different ways of writing Greek.  There are the Greek characters, and then there is the English transliteration.  Even the English version was very difficult to pronounce.  Being so different, I was surprised how hard it was to even remember phrases.  I don’t think I was able to remember how to say “thank you” for longer than 15 minutes.

Acropolis and Parthenon

 

Acropolis

Athens itself was less than impressive.  Granted, my negative impression may have partially been due to the icy wind and threatening rainclouds, but I’m glad a whole day wasn’t spent in Athens.  Also, one has to factor in the economic difficulties Greece is currently undergoing.  Even though it was offseason for tourists, the city was very dirty in comparison to others, especially Venice.  After our first Greek lunch we only had time to visit one major site, but we found the Parthenon was both closed and covered in scaffolding.  However, the top of Philopappou Hill gave us a fantastic view for miles around the city.

Some of the best memories from Athens were of the countless stray dogs throughout the city.  I expected them to be somewhat unfriendly and constantly attempting to steal food, but this wasn’t the case.  All you had to do was treat them nicely – pet and sit with them for a while – and they would follow you around like guards, barking at and scaring off the aggressive beggars and street vendors that would try to approach you.  Then, at the end of their territory, they would nudge you one last time as if to say “bye” and sadly watch you walk away.

 

Leaving Athens

As darkness started to cover Athens, we arrived at our ferry and boarded for the nine hour ride to the last destination of spring break:  Crete!

 

 

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St. Peter's Basilica

Spring Break Part II: Rome

March 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Colosseum

The second segment of my spring break was spent in Rome, Italy.  Barring a little difficulty with Eurail passes, the train ride from Venice to Rome was a wonderful transition.  The hills of northern Italy around Florence made for a gorgeous train ride south towards Rome.

Because we didn’t have long in Rome, we attempted to hit as many major sites as we could in the time we had.  One of the nearest sites to our hostel was the Colosseum.  Although we never actually went inside, we spent a lot of time in the area taking pictures (and learning about tourist traps).

From the Colosseum the road leads north past the extensive Roman Forum to the Piazza Venezia.  And from there (after a quick stop for more gelato) another short walk to the Trevi Fountain.  Although most of the city was far from crowded during early March, the fountain was crawling with people.  While many were tourists (one couple was having their wedding photos taken), you could easily tell this was a hotspot for pickpockets as unsuspecting tourists turned their backs towards the fountain and threw a few cents over their shoulder.  However, as with all big cities if you pay attention and watch each others’ backs there is little to worry about.

St. Peter's Basilica

During our only full day in Rome we caught a bus to Vatican City.  After staying in St. Peter’s Square for a while, we proceeded to enter St. Peter’s Basilica.  Our afternoon arrival was perfect timing; rays of sunlight were perfectly displayed across the altar.  The entire cathedral is filled with centuries of art.  Every carving and ornately painted ceiling is worth admiring.  Deeper into the Basilica is a wall remembering the entire line of popes starting with St. Peter and ending with the current Pope Benedict XVI.  The bus route taking us back to the main part of Rome ran along side the River Tiber and went through several other famous sites.

After a last true Italian dinner, it was an early night in preparation for our 4:30 awakening to catch a flight to the next stop on our itinerary…

 

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

 

 

Missed Part I?  Check out:  http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/2012/03/21/spring-break-part-i-venice/

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View from Rialto Bridge

Spring Break Part I: Venice

March 21, 2012 / / 0 Comments

 

Venetian Sunset

First stop of my spring break:  Venice, Italy.  This beautiful city was the perfect place for the group of us traveling together to start our trip to mainland Europe.  Being a very popular city for tourism, the language barrier is pretty minimal compared to a lot of other places.  Also, the city is on an island, meaning that it is impossible to get too lost while wandering around.  Everything in Venice is within easy walking distance, meaning we never had to deal with potentially confusing public transportation.

Gondola Ride

The Grand Canal winds through the main part of Venice with many other canals interlacing throughout the city.  The local Venetians use boats like most American use cars.  In fact, most houses in Venice have two doors, one with an entrance onto the street and another door opening to a canal.  Due to the water bound nature of the city “the thing” do to while in Venice is go on a gondola ride.  In order to keep the cost of our ride down we didn’t go on a very long one, but we spent over half an hour gliding along the back canals of Venice (which included going by Marco Polo’s house).  The countless bridges throughout the city are very scenic, but few have ramps, making transport difficult for those with strollers or wheelchairs.

Venice has several notable sights that tourists from all over the world come to visit like Rialto Bridge and St. Mark’s Square.  Rialto Bridge was very crowded, but the views of the Grand Canal from the top were amazing.  St. Mark’s Square was great to see both at night and during the day.

View from Rialto Bridge

I enjoyed going to both locations, especially St. Mark’s, but my favorite place in Venice was the walkway along the waterside.  Of course, there are hordes of street vendors attempting to sell just about everything a tourist could be tempted to buy in every popular location.  But because I was traveling during the offseason, most of the others along the waterside were just other tourists like myself looking for a scenic escape from the main part of the city.

 

Besides its canals, Venice is also captivating for others reasons such as its famous glassware, carnival masks, and real Italian food.  I loved the pizza and pasta, but the real treasure of Venice:  gelato!

Ponte della Costituzione

Missed a blog or want to see what else is going on in Cambridge?  Check out: http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/category/cambridge-england/

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UK Attractions

March 8, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Having been overseas for eight weeks now I’ve had the chance to do quite a bit of traveling around Britain.  So, on the eve of my Spring Break I thought I would catch up with a quick blog on some of the locations I’ve visited on the island:

 

Bath

The first thing you notice when entering Bath is the uniform architecture throughout the city.  Nearly every street is worth taking a few pictures of.  The city is home to several notable sites, including the Royal Crescent, the Jane Austen Centre, Bath Abbey, and the Royal Victoria Park.  And of course, the famous Roman baths.  Although this was the first time I encountered large numbers of tourists at a site, I was still able to enjoy the experience of walking through the ancient location.  The picture is of the hot spring that is the source of all the water.  By the time it flows into the main baths the water will be cool enough to comfortably bathe in.

 

 

Castles

No trip to through Europe would be complete without a few castles, and the photo below is of Warwick Castle, which is the first one I visited in Britain.  In spite of the rather touristy nature of the castle today, it is still easy to comprehend the original nature of its location.  The castle is situated on the top of a hill and is defensible from all sides.  From the top of the castle you can see for miles, even in England’s typically foggy weather.  One of my favorite attractions from this location was watching the falconer’s birds dive at up to 200 mph.

 

 

Stonehenge

Although Stonehenge is set in a lonely location between two highways and surrounded by fields, it is one of the world’s most famous sites for a reason.  The stones weigh between 4 and 40 tons each, and come from many miles away.  Also, Stonehenge is oriented to frame the rising sun during the summer solstice and the setting sun during the winter solstice.  The weather was abnormally cold and windy when I visited Stonehenge (you can see the snow), but this kept a lot of other tourists indoors, leading to several good pictures of the site.  While tourists are now confined to the path surrounding Stonehenge, there are actually several other places in Britain that are similar, one or two of which I plan to stop at before the end of the semester.

 

 

 

Missed a blog or want to see what else is going on in Cambridge?  Check out:  http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/category/cambridge-england/

See more photos on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

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